17.364 preservation -- & how much there is

From: Humanist Discussion Group (by way of Willard McCarty willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk)
Date: Thu Oct 30 2003 - 01:42:02 EST

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                   Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 17, No. 364.
           Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                       www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
                            www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                         Submit to: humanist@princeton.edu

       [1] From: Dennis Moser <aldus@angrek.com> (18)
             Subject: Re: 17.357 reservations about reservations on
                     preservation

       [2] From: "Dr. Donald J. Weinshank" <weinshan@cse.msu.edu> (20)
             Subject: FW: Why are you so busy? How Much Information? 2003

    --[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 06:19:14 +0000
             From: Dennis Moser <aldus@angrek.com>
             Subject: Re: 17.357 reservations about reservations on preservation

    Actually, Helen Tibbo was being quite generous in saying 5%: NARA has been
    quoted as only keeping about 1%. And as the good Dr. Cox has said,
    paraphrasing a bit, "the archivist's job is to get rid of things, not to
    keep them." Of course, our other job is to be able to do an intelligent
    appraisal of materials so that the 1%-5% that IS saved is the very best
    stuff...

    In terms of archives whose creation is the result of a records program
    (i.e., the "governmental" type, the "classical" definition of archives, as
    opposed to those archives of purely "historical" nature that are NOT the
    result of government actions), trying to keep everything is the HOV Express
    lane towards madness...

    Dennis Moser

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    mailto:aldus@angrek.com
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    "That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time"
    --John Stuart Mill (1806-73)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    --[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 06:21:57 +0000
             From: "Dr. Donald J. Weinshank" <weinshan@cse.msu.edu>
             Subject: FW: Why are you so busy? How Much Information? 2003

    Humanists:

    I was fascinate by this estimate from Berkeley about the explosion in new
    information generated every year. I believe that I have not seen this as yet
    on HUMANIST.

       How Much Information? 2003
    (http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info-2003/)
    This study is an attempt to estimate how much new information is created
    each year. Newly created information is distributed in four storage media -
    print, film, magnetic, and optical - and seen or heard in four information
    flows - telephone, radio and TV, and the Internet. This study of information
    storage and flows analyzes the year 2002 in order to estimate the annual
    size of the stock of new information contained in storage media, and heard
    or seen each year in information flows.

    The study was conducted by Hal Varian and Peter Lyman of the University of
    California, Berkeley.

    _________________________________________________
    Dr. Don Weinshank Professor Emeritus Comp. Sci. & Eng.
    1520 Sherwood Ave., East Lansing MI 48823-1885
    Ph. 517.337.1545 FAX 517.337.2539
    http://www.cse.msu.edu/~weinshan



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